s. Jacob's well is still extant, and is one of
the few undisputed localities associated with our Lord's life.
Travellers of all shades of theological opinion and of no theological
opinion are agreed that the deep well, now much choked with _debris_,
lying twenty minutes east of Nablus, is the veritable well on the stone
rim of which our Lord sat. Ten minutes' walk north of this well lies a
village now called El-Askar, which represents in name and partly in
locality the Sychar of the text. Partly in locality I say, for
"Palestine was ten times as populous in the days of our Lord as it is
at present;" and there is therefore good ground for the supposition that
although now but a little village or hamlet, Sychar was then
considerably larger, and extended nearer to the well. Coming, then, to
this well, and being tired with the forenoon's walk, our Lord sat down,
while the disciples went forward to the town to buy bread.

And thus arose that conversation with the woman of Sychar, which has
brought hope and comfort to many a thirsting and weary soul besides.
That which struck the woman herself and the disciples is not that which
is likely to impress us most distinctly. We all feel the unsurpassed
delicacy and grace of the whole scene. No poet ever imagined a situation
in which the free movements of human nature, the picturesqueness of
outward circumstance, and the profoundest spiritual interests were so
happily, easily, and effectively combined. Yet the chief thing which
struck the woman herself and the disciples was the ease with which Jesus
broke down the wall of partition which the hatred of centuries had
erected between Jew and Samaritan.

To estimate aright the magnanimity and originality of our Lord's action
in making Himself and His salvation accessible to this woman, the marked
separation that had hitherto existed must be borne in mind. The
Samaritans were of heathen origin. In the Second Book of Kings, chap,
xvii., we read that Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, pursuing the usual
policy of his empire, carried the Israelites to Babylonia, and sent
colonists from Babylonia to occupy their cities and land. These
colonists found the country overrun by wild beasts, which had multiplied
during the years of depopulation; and accepting this as proof that the
God of the land was not pleased, they begged their monarch to send them
an Israelitish priest, who would teach them the manner of the God of the
land. Their application was